Good Shepherd Health Care System (GSHCS) Board of Trustees announced that Art Mathisen, MHA, FACHE, has accepted the position as next president and chief executive officer.
“We started our search last December and interviewed an excellent field of candidates with impressive backgrounds,” Board of Trustees Chair Sue Daggett. “Art demonstrated the ability, energy and vision we need to keep Good Shepherd on its path to providing outstanding care to our communities.”
Mathisen will assume the position July 17, succeeding current Interim President & CEO Emmett Schuster, MHSA, ACHE. Mathisen brings with him over 25 years of experience serving in various health care leadership roles. Since April 2019, Mathisen has been serving as president of Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., part of the nine-hospital system MaineHealth.
“My wife, Jen, and I are very excited to become part of the Good Shepherd family and the Hermiston community,” said Mathisen. “The first time I set foot on the hospital campus, it quickly became apparent that this team lives the organization’s motto of, ‘Patients First. Always!’. Working in health care is more to me than just a job – it’s a calling. And what I see that sets Good Shepherd Health Care System apart from the rest is that it not only provides the best care, but it does this by truly connecting and caring for each person as an individual. And I’m excited to lead an organization that always puts the patient and people first!”
Mathisen began his career in 1992 in the United States Army as an enlisted infantry soldier. After an honorable discharge, he returned to college earning a public management degree in 1996 from the University of Maine, and an active-duty commission as a second lieutenant in the Army as a Medical Service Corps officer. Mathisen later earned a graduate degree in Health Care Administration from Baylor University in 2006 and became a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE).
He served in various leadership positions early in his career to include four operational leadership positions at Fort Lewis, Wash., with two of those positions at Madigan Army Medical Center. In the following years, he held leadership positions at Weed Army Community Hospital in Fort Irwin, Calif.; Allgood Memorial Hospital in Seoul, South Korea; Kirk Army Health Clinic, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.; and Munson Army Health Center in Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
After a 20-year military career, Mathisen retired in 2014 and joined Bon Secours Health System in Suffolk, Va., serving first as a director and then as executive director of the Medical Group in Southeast Virginia. Prior to joining Memorial Hospital in 2019, he served as president and CEO of Copley Hospital located in Morrisville, Vt.
Mathisen and his wife have been married 30 years and together have three children in their 20s who live in Maine, Washington state and California. Mathisen enjoys traveling to new places with family and friends and has a passion and enthusiasm for triathlons and running. He competes in several triathlons each year and recently ran across the Grand Canyon running 29 miles in just over eight hours.
